


Feverish

by orphan_account



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, Sexy Zone
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-07 14:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1902843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of all times and places, <i>of course</i> Kento had to choose being stuck in some hut in the middle of the forest with a typhoon raging outside to collapse with a fever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feverish

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is the cheesiest, most cliché thing I have written in a long time. Just pretend that it makes sense, for my sake, okay? And shhh, clichés are awesome, especially if they involve a protective Fuma.

Fuma’s POV

“I think this is Staff-San’s way of punishing us for disobeying the rules during that one Yakitori episode” Marius sighed, idly playing with the lid of his bottle. “Now they are sending us off into dark forests to do woodchopper work and call it ‘team spirit survival training’.”

He was pouting into my direction as if it was all my fault, but I could not really pay sufficient attention to return something, so I just threw my work glove at him, hoping it would be answer enough. 

Marius continued complaining to Sou, and I ignored them for the sake of staring over to where Kento was sitting, absentmindedly scrolling through something on his phone, seeming as out of it as he had been all day.

First I had assumed that he was just tired, mostly because I was _always_ tired myself when Sexy Zone Channel filming started, but the way Kento had been too silent and too uninvolved all day soon had distracted me enough to lose track of my surroundings as well, camera or no camera on us. 

I could not shake off the feeling that something was not right, that Kento was not feeling well but kept silent to not cause any trouble, and it had me on my toes, worrying me to an extent that made focusing on work almost impossible, professional behavior or not. 

Luckily we were on break now, though, and the staff had left us for a few minutes with our bentos to handle some things, so I finally had the opportunity to stand up and cross the distance between us, flopping down on the floor next to him and waiting until he looked up from his phone to meet my gaze.

His face was flushed, I noticed, and his eyes weirdly unfocused, and I had to suppress the weird urge to tuck him into a blanket and bring him home. Only home was about two hours away right now and Kento would battle with the bears the staff had warned us about earlier rather than actually drop out of work for sickness, so all I brought out was a pointedly casual: “You barely ate anything, are you okay?”

“Sure, I am just not hungry” Kento nodded with a small smile that did not reach his eyes, and I suppressed a sigh. 

Both of us were kept from exchanging any more words by Shori’s loud voice, though.

“Say, don’t you think that it is going to storm?” he asked into the round, face up to watch the dark clouds rolling above us. “It’s been windy all day and I don’t really like this.”

With a look upwards I scanned the sky, realizing that he was probably right. My mother had mentioned something about a typhoon a few days ago, but I had forgotten all about it when all that had followed her warnings had been some rain showers, but the way this weather front moved really seemed kind of threatening, even more considering how we were in the middle of nowhere, really. 

All of us started when Kento’s phone rang, and Kento blinked as he glanced at the caller ID.

“It’s the staff” he murmured before taking it. It took a two minute conversation until he hung up, suddenly restless, but he obviously tried to overplay it for our younger band mates as he announced: “They say we shall follow down this path until we reach a little wooden hut. We are are supposed to wait there because of the approaching storm. The staff will pick us up.”

“Where are they?” Marius asked worriedly, not moving to collect his things even as Kento stood up. “Why can’t we go to where they are?”

“Apparently they are pretty far and it’s too dangerous for them to go all the way back here” Kento said casually, but he caught my eyes for a moment, and it told me that the storm ahead was probably more serious than all of us had thought. “They will pick us up when the weather has calmed down.”

“But what about the bears?” Sou asked quietly. 

“Yeah, they can’t just leave us here!” Marius protested, and I glared authoritatively into their direction, making them fall silent. 

“Pack your things so we can finally leave, or do you want to be out here when it starts?!” I demanded, glad to see at least Shori jump up immediately at my words. 

Marius still moved way too slowly for my taste, apparently hoping that the staff would still turn up if he just waited long enough, and when we finally set foot down the path we had come from, the first raindrops fell. 

I did not even have time to properly curse before we found ourselves in the downpour of our lives, and I hardly managed to keep our small group together as Kento led the way. 

The small hut was no more than a five minute walk away, but when we reached it, we were all soaked to the bones and Marius was complaining on top of his lungs, and I was one step from strangling him with my soaked purple overall. 

Thankfully Sou and Shori recognized the threat of the situation and volunteered to search the house for towels and dry clothes as Kento unsuccessfully tried to turn on the light. 

“I think we have no electricity” he sighed, shivering slightly as he pushed his wet hair out of his face. “That means no heating or warm water either, I guess.”

“Well, it’s not that cold, it’s summer, after all” I sighed, crossing the room to observe the small kitchenette, finding no faucet or anything other than a small heater that was basically useless to us without electricity. “But we have no water to drink either, so that could be a problem.”

“I want to go home” Marius whined quietly, but before I could return anything the door opened again, revealing Sou and Shori under a mountain of what seemed like moth-eaten work shirts and shorts. 

It was enough for now, with all of us eager to get out of our wet clothes, and we spread them over the empty tatami mats, since there were not many pieces of furniture available to hang them up on.

We kept exploring the hut a little more afterwards, but there was not much left of it, besides two futons and a few old rice crackers in some cupboards.

“I hope we don’t need to sleep here” Sou murmured, eyeing the futons wearily.

“We have the couch too” Shori reminded him, nodding to the opposite wall. “We will manage somehow.”

Marius still looked like he was going to cry, and I was about to say something encouraging before there was a loud crash from across the room.

All of us whirled around in confusion, only to find Kento on the floor, apparently having stumbled in his attempt to get up after searching the last kitchen cupboard. 

“Sorry” he breathed weakly, and while the others adverted their eyes again at the excuse, I stared at Kento in alarm, taking in his flushed face and his heavy breathing. 

He carefully got to his feet again, threatening to lose balance once more, so I jumped up and slung an arm around his waist, keeping him steady.

“Are you really okay?!” I asked, catching his eyes, and the way Kento held onto me for support was answer enough, really. I reached out with my free hand to brush his damp hair aside, feeling the skin of his forehead, a gasp escaping my lips at the touch. “Damn, Kento, you’re burning up!”

All eyes were back on Kento at my words and our younger band mates were dead silent as Kento made a face, looking slightly guilty. 

“Why did you not tell us that you were having a fever?!” I called, a sudden anger rushing through my veins. “You should have called in sick this morning!”

“It was not that bad when I woke up!” Kento protested. “It was barely high temperature and I thought it would be fine. It’s not like I could have predicted that we’d be stuck in the middle of a forest later today!”

“You and your stupid workaholic tendencies!” I groaned. “You are going to get yourself killed one day, and then?!”

Kento just rolled his eyes, and I tightened my grip around him, pulling him more firmly against me as I took a few steps across the room to where we had dumped the futons earlier.

“You are going to lay down now” I murmured, and Kento let himself be manhandled down onto the thin mattress, not fighting me as I draped the cover over him. He looked too exhausted to protest anyways, and when I stuffed a pillow under his head, his eyes fell closed immediately. 

I stared at him for a moment, the anger ebbing away slowly, just leaving the worry that had triggered it in the first place. 

When I looked up again at the others, their faces were all pale, their eyes wide as they stared at Kento. Marius was clinging to Shori’s shirt, and they looked as helpless as I felt. 

“You don’t have medicine or anything with you, do you?” I asked quietly. They just shook their heads, like I knew they would. We had left most of our stuff in the dressing room, not expecting to be gone for longer than a usual working day. I myself had only taken my phone with me. 

I cursed under my breath, reaching out to feel Kento’s forehead again. Kento only stirred a little at my touch, not even opening his eyes, and his breathing was loud and shallow, tearing through the silence of the room, as blatant as his hot skin against my fingers. 

“We can… do nothing but wait for the staff to pick us up” I said unwillingly, my eyes glued to Kento’s face.

“But we don’t know how long they will take” Sou whispered. “For all we know, the storm could rage all night.”

I kept from answering, knowing just how right he was. 

***

We waited for a whole hour, with me sitting at Kento side, Marius and Sou cuddled into each other staring at him and Shori peeking out of the window, but slowly, it was starting to become dark, and the storm had still not lit up, if anything had become even stronger. 

I kept reaching out for Kento every now and then, pushing now sweaty hair out of his face and feeling his temperature, but he seemed unaware of his surroundings, in a fevered state between sleep and trance. 

We only spoke again when Kento’s phone rang. First we just stared at it almost in confusion before I yelped at it, recognizing the name of a staff member on the display.

“Yes?” I called, but the signal was bad, and the voice on the other side of the line seemed far away in between the rustling noises. “Hello?”

“Nakajima-Kun? We are sorry, bu…” The whooshing overruled the volume of the voice, and I groaned as I got to my feet, walking through the room in search for signal. “... have to wait for tomorrow morn…”

“Tomorrow morning?!” I called, panicking. “We can’t spend the night here! Kento is sick and he needs to see a doctor!”

“... can’t hear you very well… ust stay indoors and…”

“Wait, listen to me!” I protested, but then, the line went dead, and I only stared at the phone in horror.

“They are not coming?” Marius asked in a high-pitched voice, catching my eyes in shock, and I did not even know what to respond, my own fear closing up my throat. 

“Fuma-Kun” Sou whispered, nodding to Kento in the futon, and I turned, seeing that Kento had rolled over to his side as was now crawling in on himself, shivering. 

“Well damn” I whispered, kneeling down next to him once more, feeling his temperature.

This time, Kento opened his eyes when I touched him, looking up at me with a glassy stare.

“Are they here?” he breathed, and I bit my lip as I shook my head.

“They won’t come to pick us up tonight. I guess the storm is too bad.”

Kento made a face at my words, shivering again. 

“It’s so _cold_ ” he whispered, pulling the thin blanket up to his chin. 

“It’s warm, Kento” I said softly. “This is a summer storm. None of us are freezing.”

“But I am” Kento whimpered, and I sighed as I weakly rubbed his arm through the covers in an attempt to create warmth. It did not seem to help, and I tried to fight the weird urge to roll myself around him like a human blanket. 

It was hard, though, with Kento shaking like a leaf, and I stood my ground for about two more minutes before I reached out for him, making him sit up despite his whines before pulling him into me, letting him rest against my chest. 

For a moment, Kento seemed confused, but then he took note of my body heat and crawled against me all too willingly, clinging to my waist with shaky hands. I wrapped my arms around him, careful not to meet anyone’s eyes though I could feel their gazes burning into my skin. 

This urge to protect Kento, even in a physical way like this, was nothing new to me, strictly speaking, but I had never acted on it, not in a forward gesture like this. But these were special circumstances, I told myself, and with Kento shivering against me and burying his face in my neck, I could not have let go even if I had wanted to. 

So instead, I rubbed soft circles over his back, waiting for the shivers to subside. 

It took a few more minutes for him to fall asleep in my arms, but my eyes stayed glued to his face and I caught myself at letting my fingers caress his skin every now and then. 

I was only reminded of the younger ones’ presence when Shori got up and claimed the other futon, leaving the couch to Sou and Marius. 

By now, it was so dark that we could barely see farther than our direct surroundings anyways, but I still felt calmer when they at least pretended to close their eyes, leaving me to my own confusing feelings as I drew a thumb over Kento’s cheekbone. 

I had wondered every now and then what these feelings I had for Kento were, why they were so much more intense than those for anyone else, but I had always forced myself to not ponder over it, to not think this thought towards the end, out of fear of what I would come up with. 

But tonight my mind was too exhausted from the worry over Kento and the fear gnawing at it to pretend to not know what was going on. I only needed to look at his sleeping face to know, really. So instead of fighting it any longer, I just tightened my grip around him and rested my cheek against the top of his head, closing my eyes as well.

***

I barely managed to get any sleep that night, waking every time Kento stirred or shivered against me, and not being able to drift off again because of the new wave of anxiety washing over me after checking his temperature. 

This was not fair, I thought fuzzily as I pulled the covers tighter around us, leaning against the wall in my back. I had no problem with taking care of people I cared for, had a tendency to do it, even, but Kento was something like my weak point. He was someone that gave _me_ strength, my partner in so many aspects, so when I had to worry about him, it hit me double as hard. 

Or maybe it was just the fact that he was so much more important than everyone else, really, that made the thought of him suffering, or worse, him being taken away from me through anything almost unbearable. 

I knew exactly that this was not the right time for epiphanies, especially the kind I had always fought against, but with each time I woke up, it was harder to fall asleep again with the feelings pressing down on my chest, and no matter how tightly I hugged Kento against me, assuring myself of his presence, nothing seemed to help. 

I was the first to register noises from outside at dawn, but instead of getting up to open the door myself I woke the others, Sou already having been awake by the looks of it and volunteering to go meet the staff. 

The only one who didn’t wake no matter how often I shook him was Kento, and it made me feel kind of crippled, because if anything his temperature had risen over night and I was pretty sure that it had by now reached a dangerous level. 

“What do you mean, Nakajima-Kun is sick?!” I heard the staff call as soon as Sou let them in, storming in to take a look at him themselves, but I was unwilling to let go of him for long enough for them to really do anything. All I did was get back into my now dried clothes while discussing with them about calling an ambulance.

“They can’t come here, Kikuchi-Kun” they told me impatiently. “No car can get through until here.”

“Then what are we going to do?!” I demanded testily. “He is unconscious, for god’s sake!”

Before anyone could respond to me, though, Marius called Kento’s name, and we turned to him to see that he had opened his eyes. 

I pushed everyone else aside in my haste to get to him, and it took a moment until Kento’s eyes focused on me, blood-shot and heavy-lidded but clearly taking note of me. 

“Kento” I said softly, reaching out to touch his cheek. “Kento, can you hear me?”

“Yes” he breathed. “What’s happening?”

“You have a high fever. We need to bring you to a hospital. Do you think you can stand up? Get dressed?”

“I’m… not sure” Kento said honestly, ghost of a smile on his lips, and I nodded, reaching out for his shoulder to help. 

All we managed was to bring him into a sitting position as he uncoordinatedly managed to get into his own clothes, not quite without my help, but his attempt to get to his feet ended to him almost crashing into the wall next to him, so really, there was no way he would be able to walk out of here on his own two feet. 

“Well, no choice” I murmured, looking at the staff. “How long do we have to walk from here?”

“Maybe twenty minutes” they mused. “Probably a little longer, with the condition of the path after last night’s storm.”

“Okay” I nodded, crouching down with my back to Kento. “Hold on.”

Kento blinked at me in confusion, slow due to his fevered state. “Huh?”

“I am going to piggyback you, since you obviously can’t walk by yourself.”

“Now that’s not embarrassing at all” Kento sighed, but then his arms slung around my shoulders tentatively, and I felt his chest align with my back. 

Kento was definitely heavier than my sister but not too heavy, and the worst strain about carrying him in this position was my fear of him falling once he had closed his eyes and had drifted off again. But Marius kept walking next to me and he helped by arranging Kento’s position every now and then, and like this, we somehow made the way through the forest.

The ambulance was waiting for us at the residence of the forester with whom the crew had stayed for the night, and there was a little discussion before we split up, me and another staff member going with Kento to the hospital and the rest bringing our younger band members home. 

Kento did not wake up all the way to the hospital, and when we arrived he was taken for check ups right away, and we were told to wait in the corridors. I took the time to call my parents, and after I was done with that, Kento’s parents, even though the staff had ensured me that they had called all of our families last night to inform them that we would be unable to come home because of the weather conditions. While my mother reacted calm and understanding when I told her that I would stay with Kento until he was ready to go home, I needed to reassure Kento’s mother for ages before she promised not to get into the car and drive all the way out to Gunma. 

Not that I could not relate to her worry. 

It took about an hour of waiting until the doctor approached us, telling us that they put Kento on an IV and would keep him in for a few hours for observation, but that he would probably be able to return home by the end of the day, under the condition of bed rest for the remainder of the week. 

When I entered the room, Kento was still asleep, and I took my place next to his bed, almost automatically reaching out to take his hand into mine. Maybe it was the strain of the last twenty hours and the lack of sleep, and definitely the fact that he was still unconscious and therefore couldn’t hear me, but I leaned in to kiss his fingers and murmured, very quietly: “Don’t scare me like that, you idiot.”

Kento did not stir, and I closed my eyes, my lips still pressed to his warm skin. 

***

When I opened my eyes again, I felt disoriented. It took me a moment to register fingers brushing through my hair, and when I had finally blinked the blurry fog away from my sight, I saw Kento smiling at me, still looking exhausted but obviously much more conscious and clear than the last few times I had seen his eyes opened.

I sat up with a start, noticing that we were still in the hospital, and my hand was still clinging to Kento’s, never having let go as I had fallen asleep at his side. 

“How are you?” I asked immediately, and Kento made a face. 

“I feel like I took up a fight with a bear in that forest, and I have no idea how I ended up here” he murmured, his voice croaked, and I snorted at his words. “Did I fight with a bear?”

“No, your story is way less cool” I returned, squeezing his hand. “You really don’t remember a thing?”

“I remember something about a storm” Kento frowned, looking at me questioningly. “And that you were there, but nothing else.”

“We spent the night in some creepy old hut in the middle of nowhere to hide away from a typhoon” I explained tiredly. “And you collapsed with a fever and worried us all out of our minds.”

“...Oh” Kento just answered, blinking, and I sighed as I got to my feet, unwillingly letting go of his hand. 

“Wait here, I will tell the doctor that you are awake. With some luck, we can still take you home today.”

Kento just nodded, and I turned to leave the room, holding in when I heard a very quiet: “I’m sorry…”

“Mhm?” I frowned, looking at him bewilderment. 

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble” he whispered, not looking at me. “Not only did I ruin the filming, but…”

“Don’t worry about it” I interrupted him, slightly annoyed. “You can’t help it when you are sick, and your first coherent thought should not be to apologize about work. Start treasuring yourself a little more than work, because then this kind of thing would have never happened.”

When Kento did not answer, only looking even more miserable, I walked back over to him, gently cupping his cheek, making him look up at me. Kento seemed confused at my forward gesture, and it was indeed very unlike me, but my nerves were too strained to care, so I said, very softly: “I need you to take better care of you, Kento. Do you know what it felt like when you didn’t open your eyes? Don’t do that to me ever again, or I will kick your ass the moment you wake up.”

Kento only stared at me, the emotion strong behind his expressive eyes, and maybe I was really not thinking anymore, maybe my brain had given up all duty after all the pondering, but I found myself leaning down and pressing my lips against his. 

Kento’s lips were dry and chapped and his skin was still slightly too warm, but he melted into the kiss immediately, returning the pressure.

It was nothing spectacular, neither deep nor especially passionate, just soft and short and incredibly intense. It was like all the emotions that had been whirling within me suddenly came to a rest, and my world tilted into focus.

I was smiling when I broke away, chuckling slightly as Kento looked at me almost questioningly, as if deciding if he was still dreaming. 

Wordlessly, I straightened up again and turned for the door. 

“You will be sick now as well” Kento murmured weakly, and I snorted.

“I will be one way or another, after holding you in my arms all night.”

I was glad Kento could not see my blush as I left the room, and if the staff member noticed, he did not comment on it. 

***

“You should sleep” I told Kento later that night, in the backseat of the rental car the staff had gotten for us to drive back. 

Kento was buried under the staff member’s jacket, his head on my shoulder, and he only hummed as he cuddled further into me. 

I closed my eyes as well, hoping to catch some more sleep too, when Kento whispered, so lowly that only I could hear it: “Thank you, Fuma. I don’t remember much of last night, but I remember that knowing that you were there with me made me feel safe.”

I did not answer, instead just slinging an arm around him and pulling him further into me. It seemed to be enough for Kento, because he was smiling when I peeked at him through half-opened eyes, and though I would never say that out loud I secretly thought to myself that I would make sure to keep him safe forever. 


End file.
